INVERSE CONDEMNATION

The Fifth Amendment to the Missouri Constitution states, “no property shall be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.” Mo. Const. amend. V, § 26 (emphasis added).

Ordinarily, when taking or damaging Real Estate, a condemning authority will attempt to notify the Property Owner of its use of Eminent Domain and will follow the legal procedures in place to acquire the owner’s Real Estate.

However, mistakes can happen where the Property Owner does not receive notification of the taking of the Real Estate . Or, even though the government did not anticipate using or damaging a Property Owner’s Real Estate on the project plan, an owner’s property suffers damage. The government’s project could also cause damage to near-by properties by blasting or causing water runoff from the project area to flood a neighbor’s property. Land use regulation by the government may also constitute a taking of property rights which requires just compensation under Missouri, Illinois and Federal Eminent Domain Law.

In these situations, private property is taken by a condemning authority even though Eminent Domain power was never formally exercised.

These types or cases involve “Inverse Condemnation” because the Eminent Domain process is reversed. That means the condemning authority should have filed suit prior to “taking the property”, but it did not. The government either through mistake, design error, or otherwise, caused damage to the Property Owner’s property. And the Property Owner must now seek “just compensation” to recover for the loss.

Instances of Inverse Condemnation may be difficult to identify. So, when a Property Owner’s Real Estate is changed during the activities of a contractor, e.g. the property starts to flood when it did not in the past, the Property Owner should contact a Real Estate lawyer and Eminent Domain attorney to determine whether the Property Owners’ legal rights have been violated. An experienced Eminent Domain and Real Estate lawyer will be able to make that determination.

The Gilroy Law Firm has twenty-five (25) years experience helping Property Owners throughout Saint Louis and Missouri to establish and prove the Fair Market Value of their property for the purposes of receiving “just compensation” from the government whether the government acquires the Real Estate by Inverse Condemnation or by Eminent Domain.

Should you desire The Gilroy Law Firm’s legal advice and assistance with regard to your Inverse Condemnation matter, we look forward to your telephone call to schedule a Working Meeting with our firm.

To speak with an experienced Eminent Domain attorney in Saint Louis about inverse condemnation, call The Gilroy Law Firm at 314-965-3536, or use our quick contact web form.